Syracuse track puts up NCAA regional qualifying performances at ACC Championships

The Syracuse Orange outdoor track and field team put together some solid performances over the weekend at the ACC Championships in Raleigh. While they didn’t result in victories the distance squad should have solidified additional NCAA Regional qualifiers.

Amanda Vestri and Annie Heffernan were 4th and 6th in the 10k and both have top 10 regional times in the event. Jordan Jacob finished 17th in the event but her time currently sits 26th on the qualifying list and sophomore Abigail Spiers is 46th and thanks to the push to restore qualifiers back to 48 she should be joining her teammates. To demonstrate the depth of the ACC, Spiers was 24th in the 10k this weekend while running a qualifying performance.

Vestri and Heffernan are also in the qualifying spots for the 5k but it’s likely that neither will run the event at Regionals next week. Justus Holden-Betts sits in 49th spot in the steeplechase and with the likelihood of someone scratching ahead of her she’ll be the 5th Orange women to head to Jacksonville. Shaleah Colaire is currently 57th in both the hurdle events (100m and 400m) and will be watching the meet declarations to see if she can enter the field.

On the men’s side, JP Trojan made a move in the last kilometer of the 10k but he was unable to hold off NC State’s Ian Shanklin in the last stretch. Joe Dragon was 5th in a new personal-best and those two along with Matt Scrape, Domenic Hockenbury and Silas Derfel are among the regional qualifiers in the event.

Trojan and Dragon are also on the 5k qualifying list but like Vestri and Heffernan I’d expect to see them focus on the 10k. Aidan Tooker is 29th on the steeplechase list and his comeback will continue next week. The other Syracuse scorer this weekend was freshman Anthony Vazquez was 7th in the 110m hurdles. He’s currently 64th on the regionals list so it’ll take a number of scratches to get him into the field.

Syracuse finished 14th in the women’s team competition with eight points while Duke and Florida State tied for 1st. The Orange men were 13th with 14 points as Florida State won with 136.